Ack! School hasn't even started yet...lice?!?

[sarahsthreads]

We have practically been hermits this summer. All summer long we've barely had a half dozen playdates, no camps...I have no idea where DD1 could have picked up lice. No idea. We went to a children's museum like 3 weeks ago...but it's not like she was putting on communal hats or rubbing heads with other kids.

I spent an hour combing her hair out today and found a couple dozen live bugs and a lot of nits. Ewwww. We've washed all the bedding (in every room), washed every towel in the house, bagged up stuffed toys, dolls, dress-up clothes, etc.

I briefly thought about trying a more natural method or two first, but school starts next Tuesday, so we decided to be aggressive and use the OTC stuff her pediatrician recommended, I think it's called Nix.

DH did that tonight while I was at work and combed it out. I'm going to continue combing every day. If I find no more bugs as of Monday night she should be OK to go to school on Tuesday, right? Should I still let the nurse's office know?

Gah. My head is feeling itchy just thinking about this. (Yes, we checked the adults in the house, too.)

And would someone please explain to me why we can't start a school year uneventfully? Before kindergarten, she had a stomach bug. Before 1st grade she had a horrible cold & cough. Now before 2nd grade she gets lice. I'm afraid of what she'll come up with for next year!

Sarah :)

[s7714]

I'm sorry! :hug:

I think head lice are really bad this year. When I took DS to a doctor's appointment the first day my DDs' were back at school, they had a case of them in the next room over. (I overhead the staff talking about cleaning up the room after the person left.) Now in the second week of school lice are going through tons of grades at several schools.

Hope you get rid of them quickly!

[bubbaray]

Ew, ick. Could it be from shopping for back to school clothes/coats/hoodies??

Sending you get rid of lice vibes!

[maestramommy]

My neighbor's kids got them at VBS:tongue5: near the end of summer. She did the natural route, and it only took her less than 2 weeks? Her SIL is a nurse who deals with a lot of lice, and suggested this route. Cover their heads with mayo, then shower cap before sleeping. Next morning wash with Dawn. It seemed to work.

All the kids in the elementary school had head checks the first week of school though. Guess it really was going around!

[jacksmomtobe]

Sorry to hear about the lice... Not a very relaxing way to start the year. Sending a few hugs your way.

I read not to use mayo due to salmonella risk. I think people now use olive oil to smother them instead. Good luck!

[egoldber]

Ugh. Older DD had it this summer. I am pretty sure she got it from a neighbor, but there is no way to know.

We did the lice shampoo method (we used the CVS brand) and it took 2 treatments to get rid of them. We washed everything as well. We also went away for the weekend immediately after we found out (a previously planned trip to my saintly SIL's house who said come anyway when we told her about the lice) and I do wonder if that helped break the cycle more quickly. I think we also found them very early (lots of nits, but only 4-5 live bugs when we first treated).

We also got this comb and that was very helpful IMO. We found it IRL at an Ulta store. http://www.amazon.com/Terminator-Professional-Stainless-Treatment-Removes/dp/B000HIBPV8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1314960677&sr=8-2

But in contrast, our neighbor, who found it later, did multiple treatments with the shampoo followed by the Cetaphil method (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/the-alternative-medicine-cabinet-cetaphil-for-lice/) with no success, ultimately called in a lice busters type company to get rid of hers.

So how easily it is to get rid of varies a lot!

[sarahsthreads]

That comb does look like it might be worth ordering, though we have a set of two combs that seem to be pretty effective. But only have to go through each section of hair once might cut the time down a bit...

And your SIL is definitely a saint to let you come anyway!

The policy regarding headlice in our school handbook is very vague - it just says to check your child's hair in the week leading up to school starting and if you find anything, treat. Then it goes on to say that "once school begins, your school nurse can help you with specific issues related to your child's attendance in school." So...does that mean as long as we're actively treating I can send her the first day? I'm always such a stickler regarding the 24-hour fever-free, vomit-free etc. rules (unlike a few parents I know, who dose their kid up with motrin and stick them on the bus anyway) and I want to do what's right, but as far as I can tell there's no actual rule to follow here. I tried calling the nurse's office, hoping I'd catch someone, but no such luck.

WWYD?

Sarah :)

[bubbaray]

I would treat her now and send her, but talk to the office the first day of school.

[mrshalco]

My boys picked up lice at the end of the summer too! BOYS?!?! I thought I would be able to avoid the whole lice issue since they seem less likely to get it because of their shorter hair. Of course I let their hair be longer than typical boy's haircuts....so that was our downfall LOL

Here is our plan to getting rid of them.....
When we found them (on a Saturday) we immediately went to CVS and picked up a RID kit. We shaved DS1 head and that got rid of his issue (obviously not something you can do with a girl ;) ) We shampooed my hair, DH, and DS2's hair and combed through with the Rid comb. We found nits and live lice in DS2 head. I wasn't ready to cut his hair (curls :heartbeat:) so I wanted to give it a day to see how it was.

I checked his hair on Sunday - looked good. I checked his hair on Monday and he had a few nits. I got the clippers and shaved his head down to a 3. I thought I got them all!

On Tuesday, I made an appointment for myself at a professional nit picker service. I figured that DH didn't really know what he was looking for and I needed a professional to deal with my shorter but VERY thick hair. I learned more about lice in this visit then I ever thought I would!!! I also had a case of lice. She said most likely if the children have it - the mother does too! You won't always be itchy - I wasn't! They use the comb that the PP mentioned (nit free exterminator). It is AWESOME!! The Rid did NOTHING for us. What I liked about the comb (and the service) is that they don't use chemicals and it works! The only thing you need to clean your head with that comb is any type of white conditioner. You put conditioner in your hair and comb it out and wipe it on a paper towel. You can see the nits/lice in the conditioner as little "pepper specks" Since she found 5 live bugs in my hair - I am now on a 3 week maintenance program. Every 2 days or so I alternate between "conditioner and combing" and "olive oil and combing" The olive oil is a treatment you do overnight with a shower cap and then you comb your hair with the special comb 30-45 minutes in the morning. You can get the oil out of your hair with some dawn :) and my hair feels GREAT in the morning LOL

That night, I checked DS2's hair again.....and he had MORE nits! UGH. I did the new conditioner/comb on him and I got them ALL! I have done his hair 2 more times and they are gone.

That night - I also checked with my parent's, my MIL, my SIL, and 3 of my nieces. My Dad and 2 of my nieces had it too! The girls also visited the salon to get on their own schedule!

Some things I learned from the professional nit pickers.....(according to their info sheet)
The only mode of transmission is direct head to head contact.
Head lice is not transmitted via helmets, hats, or hairbrushes.
Head lice are not found in linens, carpets, furniture, clothing, or stuffed animals.
You do not need to vacuum, do laundry, or bag stuffed animals.
You won't find head lice off a human head.
Head lice do not choose to wait for a new host on inanimate objects .
Head lice and nits are not viable once off a human scalp.


When lice "comes back" - it's not because you didn't clean the bed or bag the stuffed animals - it's because you either didn't get all the nits OR someone else in your family/daycare/close friend is still infected and they are passing it back and forth! DS1 and 2 are with their cousins a lot (MIL watches them 2-3 times a week) so it was important to get them checked too. Luckily we did - and found their case of it - and now we have it under control!

If you do buy the comb....you only need one for your whole family. You can boil it in between uses/family members for 5 minutes.

I think that is all the info I learned! If you have any questions - let me know and I'll see if I can answer them!

[alien_host]

I'm going to try and keep DD with a ponytail for the first month or so and hope that helps to avoid lice. Does anyone know if the hairspray thing is true? Our hair dresser suggested spraying DD's hair lightly with spray since lice don't like the hairspray.

I swear that lice cases come up the first few weeks of school because of Summer Camps. My feeling is that it starts with kids getting infected at the last few weeks of camp and then it isn't noticed until school starts. With so many kids together at camp, it seems like some kids are bound to get or spread lice.

[sarahsthreads]

Thank you for the information!

I have been going absolutely crazy with laundry (I am not a "clean sheets every day" kind of housekeeper!) and I did bag up all the stuffed animals and dolls (but I'm thankful that there's less clutter, so I'm keeping them there.)

We did RID on DD1 and that seems to have gotten rid of all of the live lice, but I've been combing out every single day (at first it was 2x a day) and keep finding nits. So we also did the Fairy Tales lice treatment (it's supposed to dissolve the "glue" that attaches the nits) on both girls, and that got rid of almost all the nits. Now when I comb through I only find a couple of specks. Obviously, I'm going to keep combing through, but I haven't found an adult louse since before we did the RID treatment on DD1. We did get that comb (the kids salon that carries Fairy Tales locally had *one* left) and it is absolutely fabulous!

I did comb through my own hair pretty thoroughly and found nothing but lots and lots of dandruff. I have an extremely oily scalp, so I suspect they would never be able to survive on it! And it constantly itches, so that wouldn't be a good sign for me to go by. I'll comb through my hair again a few more times to see if I find anything, but I feel pretty confident that I don't have them.

(Oh, and we've pretty much laid down the law about sleeping in your own bed for the next few weeks to avoid any potential transmission to the adults!)

Sarah :)

[egoldber]

Lice are just rampant. I don't think you can blame it on any one thing.

And FWIW, older DD was the only one of all of us to get them. DH, I and younger DD never had so much as a nit.

[MelissaTC]

We got the message last week that they found lice on several children in several grades. I think they were all siblings. It is definitely that time of year!

[alien_host]

Lice are just rampant. I don't think you can blame it on any one thing.


I'm sure you are right, I didn't mean to imply that it was only b/c of camp, I do think that due to the proximity in time to camp ending and school starting that everyone assumes lice is due to school and not necesarily other "activities".

Crossing fingers that no lice notes come home, I'm sorry some of you are dealing with it, it really seems like it is a frustrating process.

I was so surprised to hear of a lady here who picks nits for a living, I can't imagine that as a job, but I'm sure she makes a fortune.

[sarahsthreads]

OK, so not that I'm going to take it as license to stop being diligent about daily comb-throughs, but DD1 had to go to the nurse's office for a lice check today (I called them Friday to clarify what the rule was - no lice, not no nits for anyone curious - and the nurse said she'd use their big light to check her sometime in the first day or two) and she came up clear. Yay!

And we really don't have a good idea where she got them in the first place - we didn't do any camps. She did go to a "mock" sleepover birthday party about a month before we found them, so I suppose one of the kids there might have had them? Just really odd considering we spent pretty much the *entire* summer at home.

Sarah :)